Photography by Gold & Goose
What can you say about Valentino Rossi? The 36-year-old Italian Motorcycle Grand Prix racing veteran thrilled racing fans worldwide by edging out an ultra-aggressive Andrea Dovizioso in an epic last-lap battle in the Qatar MotoGP opener that saw Rossi hold on to earn his 83rd-career MotoGP victory. Rossi crossed the line on his factory Yamaha a mere 0.174 seconds ahead of Dovi in what Rossi described as one of his all-time best races. While a stunning opener for Rossi, it was an equally impressive debut for Ducati’s Desmosedici GP15 machine with Dovizioso being joined on the podium by teammate Andrea Iannone, who scored his first MotoGP podium giving Italy a sweep of the top-three.
Defending MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez saw his chances of winning fly out the window on the first turn. Marquez ran off the track and rejoined the race in last. He did a masterful job of slicing his through the field on his factory Honda, but his drive to the front would ultimately end with a fifth-place finish, 3.8 seconds behind fourth-place Jorge Lorenzo and 4.3 seconds behind winner Rossi.
The 2015 season kicked off with Dovizioso taking the early lead from the pole on the Ducati. Jorge Lorenzo emerged in second followed closely by Yonny Hernandez and Bradley Smith. Marquez was in trouble. He ran wide and then decided he couldn’t make the first turn and stood up his Honda and ran off the track on to a paved escape road. He was able to immediately rejoin the race at the very back of the back, which set up his dramatic charge.
The race developed early into an aggressive three-way battle for the lead between Lorenzo, Dovi and Iannone. Lorenzo took over the lead on the second lap and would hold it for most of the early laps, but the Ducati pair was never more than a few bike lengths behind.
In his charge through the field it appeared Marquez made contact with Alvaro Bautista’s Aprilia. Bautista would be forced to retire with one of the front brake lines on his machine torn off.
Up front Dovizioso retook the lead on lap nine and that would set up an absolutely classic battle between him and Lorenzo with the two of them swapping the lead numerous times over the next several laps, with Dovi using the awesome straight-line speed of the Ducati to draft past Lorenzo’s Yamaha time after time at the end of the front straight. Lorenzo often replied by using the more nimble handling of the Yamaha to regain the lead over the more technical sections of the Qatar circuit.
Meanwhile Rossi began to close on the lead group, turning it into a leading quartet.
Former World Superbike standout Loris Baz pulled out of the race with a worn tire on his Forward Racing machine. He would re-enter the race to gain experience and eventually finish 22nd.
Halfway through the race it remained anyone’s game between Dovi, Lorenzo, Iannone and Rossi, while Marquez was all the way up to sixth and now challenging teammate Dani Pedrosa.
Rossi had the distinction of being the only rider in the lead group to go with a hard-compound front. That would prove critical in the closing laps.
With four to go Lorenzo lost the lead once again to Dovizioso, but this time Rossi got by him too. It appeared that Lorenzo may have scorched his tires in his long battle with Dovi. He fell to Iannone on the next lap and was largely out of the lead battle.
The battle came down to Rossi and Dovi. The two had swapped the lead briefly a few times and on the last lap it was Rossi pushing for all he was worth and using the advantage of a less-worn front tire to full advantage to manage an ever so small gap on Dovizioso. It came down to – would Rossi be able to hold off the faster on top end Ducati down the long front straight to the finish line. As the two came out of the final sweeping turn Rossi got an excellent drive and managed to stave off Dovi’s charge by a few bike lengths.
Rossi, who is starting his 20th season as a GP racer, called this race one of his favorites.
“I’ve said this a lot of times, but for me this is one of the best,” Rossi beamed. “Because after a bad start I recovered a lot. We did a great job during the practice and my bike was fantastic. Step by step I arrived there and I tried not to give up. With the two Ducatis and with Jorge it was very difficult, but in some places I was very strong, very good in the line. I’m so happy for my team, for Yamaha and for all the guys that we beat.”
Dovizioso said he was happy with the battle in spite of coming up just a hair short of winning.
“I was really happy to come back and fight for the victory,” Dovizioso said. “The last lap I pushed really hard. I had a really good lap time, but I didn’t have any more grip on the edge and it was impossible to try to attack Valentino. Anyway second in the first race is good.”
Iannone was thrilled to finally score his first podium.
“I’m so happy for the Ducati guys,” said the third year MotoGP rider. “This winter the work was incredible and the bike improved a lot. I’m really, really happy.”
American Nicky Hayden struggled to a 17th-place finish on his Aspar Honda.
The series now heads to Austin and Circuit of the Americas for round two on April 12.
Qatar MotoGP Results – March 29, 2015
1. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 42m 35.717s
2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 42m 35.891s
3. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 42m 37.967s
4. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 42m 38.424s
5. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 42m 42.753s
6. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 42m 46.472s
7. Cal Crutchlow GBR CWM LCR Honda (RC213V) 42m 48.101s
8. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 42m 48.631s
9. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 42m 48.748s
10. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 42m 53.152s
11. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 42m 55.618s
12. Danilo Petrucci ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.1) 43m 0.149s
13. Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 43m 7.749s
14. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 43m 9.180s
15. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) 43m 9.342s
16. Stefan Bradl GER Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 43m 9.661s
17. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar (RC213V-RS) 43m 14.687s
18. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar (RC213V-RS) 43m 22.287s
19. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) 43m 34.928s
20. Alex De Angelis RSM Octo IodaRacing (ART) 43m 50.698s
21. Marco Melandri ITA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 44m 23.860s
22. Loris Baz FRA Athina Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) +3 laps
Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RC213V-RS) DNF
Jack Miller AUS CWM LCR Honda (RC213V-RS) DNF
Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) DNF
